‘Soldiers on pitiful wage compared to gardaí for papal duty’

MEMBERS of the Defence Forces working during the papal visit will make a “pitiful” wage compared to gardaí, according to the military representative association PDFORRA.

Soldiers will be paid €134 in overtime payment for the three days of Pope Francis’s visit, but gardaí are expected to receive up to €30 an hour.

Gerard Guinan, general secretary of PDFORRA, told the Irish Independent that this wage will be cut in half after tax.

“The bottom line is that gardaí deserve every penny they get, but members of the Defence Forces deserve a lot more than they’re currently on,” he said.

“Privates will typically make over €600 per week, but if they’re working at the weekend they would get an allowance for this time.

“But the amount they get is pitiful. Our members feel extremely disenfranchised and inadequately paid for the hours they put in.

“If they’re doing 60 hours in overtime during the Pope’s visit, they will earn about €130. This would then be reduced to half after tax.”

Mr Guinan added that the association was currently seeking to increase allowances of the Defence Forces.

The Wives and Partners of the Defence Forces also hit out against the low wages and posted an account by an anonymous solider in the run-up to the Pope’s visit.

In a statement posted on his behalf, the soldier wrote: “There will be no extra pay for this and as well as that we were informed that we’ ll be sleeping on safari beds.

“However, we are being sent to deal with crowd control and as ticket collectors. Yet again, it appears that Mr Kehoe [Defence Minister] is taking advantage and using us as puppets to do the dirty work so they don’t have to pay anyone else to do it.

“The morale is so low at present and it seems to be only getting worse.”